Hello!
So I have been cruising around the universe and walking throughout the different stations populating my game. The user generated content is super intricate and very artistic and I love walking around and looking at all of the interiors. I decided, just for fun, to picture them as maps in a First-Person Shooter. And it is entertaining to think about frigates ripping open a hangar door and four shuttles dodging turret fire to land in the exposed space and drop off a squad of astronauts armed with weapons and equipped to take over or destroy the station. As it stands with Pirate Stations, basically all you can do is blow them up and harvest their blocks- which is simple, to the point, and if done properly can yield a lot of blocks for you to make off with. However, if astronaut v/ astronaut combat is improved, the whole mechanic can be a lot more fun, and a lot more rewarding. In this thread, I am going to run through a proposal for future updates to the small-arms we have available in StarMade, discuss how combat would work with the new system, and touch on the benefits of enduring this combat.
-The Guns-
As it stands currently, we have a hand-held antimatter weapon we shall rename to a Blaster in this thread. The Blaster's base design will be a slow-firing AMC cannon you can hold in your hand and does little damage. It will be the pistol you start off with when you spawn in. Now here comes the major changes to the weapon system: Instead of adding in other weapons (rifles, launchers, shotguns, etc.), the Blaster can be edited with it's own UI similar to your ship's weapon interface. Just like you can add secondary and tertiary computer modules to adjust the specifics of your weapon platform, attachments for the Blaster will change the function of the weapon (and it's name} to reflect the attachment's effects. There will be three attachment items that can be slaved to the base Blaster to create a plethora of weapons: Magazines, Barrels, and Receivers. Depending on the type of Magazine, Barrel, and Receiver module you slave to the Blaster, you will get a different type of weapon. The easiest way to explain this will be with examples. Please note these names are kept basic to illustrate the concept. If these were incorporated, the components and weapons would need to have different names.
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Base Weapons (Receivers): The Blaster can be turned into any other weapon by changing Receiver modules.
Blaster: The base weapon in the game will have an Anti-Matter Cannon Receiver with blank Magazine and Barrel slots, creating the current weapon in the game. *25 shots
Shotgun: A shotgun-like weapon would be a Blaster with a Damage Pulse Receiver with blank Magazine and Barrel slots. This would function like a directed Damage Pulse Module with more damage than a standard Blaster. *8 shots
Launcher: A weapon that deals explosive damage by rocking a Missile Receiver with empty Mag and Barrel slots. A single missile would fire from the weapon and deal damage to the surrounding area, prompting a longer reload time in-between. *1 shot
Rifle: A long-ranged weapon capable of firing a solid beam in a straight line due to the Damage Beam Receiver equipped. Empty Mag and Barrel slots render this a slow-firing weapon. *10 shots
*Each receiver will have it's own recharge rate which will function as a reload feature. There will be no physical ammunition involved, just like with ship weapons' systems. Once a weapon has "spent its last round", it will over-heat and have to recharge before being fired again.
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Barrels (Secondary Slots): Add these to a Blaster or other weapon base and improve specific stats.
Anti-Matter Cannon Barrel: Improves firing rate.
Damage Pulse Barrel: Increases damage.
Missile Barrel: Increases the number of shots a receiver can use before over-heating.
Damage Beam Barrel: Improves range.
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Magazines (Tertiary Slots): Add these to a Blaster or other weapon base to add specific effects.
EMP Effect Magazine: Converts weapon damage to reduce power in the hit ship or turret.
Explosive Effect Magazine: For beams and cannons, adds an explosive effect, spreading the weapon damage over three blocks adjacent to the hit block. For missiles and pulse, the radius of the blast is increased.
Ion Effect Magazine: Increased damage to shields but reduced damage to blocks and astronauts.
OverDrive Effect Magazine: Increases overall weapon damage but recharge time doubles.
Piercing Effect Magazine: Does damage to blocks/astronauts behind the point of impact, but decreases shield damage and direct damage to the targeted block/astronaut. This Magazine cannot be added to Launcher platforms.
Push Effect Magazine: Reduces damage in exchange for a pushing effect on a targeted astronaut.
Pull Magazine Effect: Reduces damage in exchange for a pulling effect on a targeted astronaut.
Stop Magazine Effect: Reduces damage in exchange for a stopping effect on a targeted astronaut.
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Specialized Weapon Examples: Depending on which Receiver has what Barrel and Magazine slaved to it, the player would get different weapons and can keep alternate modules in the inventory to change a weapon set-up via a UI. Some examples of possible weapons are listed below:
1. Damage Pulse Receiver+AMC Barrel+Push Effect Magazine= Rapid fire shotgun with a knockback effect.
2. Anti-Matter Receiver+AMC Barrel= Rapid fire blaster, comparable to a submachine gun.
3. Damage Beam Receiver+ Damage Pulse Barrel+OverDrive Effect Magazine= Heavy-hitting, long range rifle.
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-The Fight-
Now that our astronauts are armed, they need something to do with these weapons. Obviously, you will want to duke it out against other players/ NPCs on stations, planets, and capital ships. But why? Why would you send a boarding crew over instead of just tearing through with your silos of missiles? Loot. With the current edition of StarMade, you really only fight other players/ships/stations to steal their blocks, gain territory, or just to be a dick. In addition to these fine reasons, Loot should also be incorporated.
Now, if you are attacking a faction's station or a capital ship, your chance of getting any kind of Loot would have to depend on whether or not the players have cargo-spaces with anything of value in them. If you destroy the ship, you'll only be able to salvage blocks. But if you board the ship and fight your way through, you can simply raid the cargo holds for anything and try to escape back to your ship or base. Alternatively, you and your team and can raid the holds and press on to the Ship Core and use the (R) function to Hack the Core. This would take some time to do so in the middle of a shoot-out, you would need teammates to guard you against the Player-crew and NPC-crew of the ship/station you are in. Once the Core is hacked however, the Hacker will be presented with a couple of options:
1. Self Destruct- Sends the ship into an Over-Heat with a significantly reduced counter, which can be stopped by the ship's crew if they can get into the Core again.
2. Capture- The Hacker enters the Ship Core as the Pilot and all Faction/Permission Modules on-board are changed over to the Hacker's Faction Signature (or Neutral if not a member of a Faction). Any turrets linked to the Ship/Station are converted as well. All NPC crew assigned to the ship will remain hostile and must be killed.
3. Pillage- 25% of the Ship/Station's credit value is granted to the Hacker and 10% is granted to any other players in the Quarter the Core is located in. (Better be sure to keep the enemies out.)
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In the case of Pirates and Trade Guild ships and stations, there should be Loot generated in Cargo Spaces on-board that players can rummage through. They can be filled with weapons, resources, or brand new Loot items that can be sold at Shops, such as Classified Intel Dossiers (useless but assigned a value), jewelry, logs, maps, Weapon Attachments, etc. Once food, water, and oxygen are incorporated, you can find stockpiles of these resources as well. Pirates will probably have lots of weapons and raided materials on their Stations, whereas the Trading Guild would have frigates and other freighters flying around with various sizes of escorts. The freighters and stations could be Hacked or simply raided for whatever goods are in the Cargo Spaces.
An NPC AI for combat would also need to be introduced so the Pirate/Trading Guild/Faction NPC crew can wield weapons and target enemies as well. When you breach a Pirate Station, you can try and fight your way to the Core to Hack it, but there will be NPCs inside with various weapons ready to take you out, so a Boarding Crew of NPCs would be needed to increase your chance of success.
Trading Guild Stations and Freighters would be filled with crew NPCs as well, though not all of them may be armed. When Pirate hordes try and raid Guild Freighters or Stations, their AI should consider sending over Boarding Parties as well instead of simply engaging with their Isanths.
On the derelict stations, there should occasionally be a Guild or Pirate scouting team docked to it or in orbit around the station capable of sending crew down into the interior rooms for you to clear out. These stations would have some loot as well, though nowhere near the quantity or quality of what you find in Pirate or Guild stations. Another possibility would be to include an alien fauna NPC that can spawn in the derelict stations (occasionally). The Flood is what comes to my mind, but something as basic as NPCs who got stranded on the station would suffice. If they are neutral when you encounter them, you can try and take them on as Crew. But if they are hostile, then you will have to clear them out to safely explore the station.
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These are my suggestions for adding an astronaut combat system that would allow the largest amount of weapons with the least amount of new items, while also prompting players to get out of their ships more often and to make ship-to-ship combat a lot more immersive. The benefits of Looting and Pillaging a Core would be great encouragements for players to risk their hides in small-arms combat.
Concerning the weapons themselves, you would need a sprite for a Receiver, Barrel, and Magazine. By changing the colors of the sprites, you can create varied items for the different types of each module there would be (AMC would be blue, Missiles would be orange, Pulse would be red, etc.) Later on if you wanted unique sprites for each attachment, you can create very stylized weapons as the AMC barrel would look different (not just in color) than the Missile barrel, leading to the weapons looking more varied than they are. The different sprites would all have to work together though so the weapons modules blend well and create a good-looking weapon as a whole. When modules are equipped to a Blaster, the sprite in your inventory would change to reflect the added modules. If a physical item is added to your POV when wielding a weapon, then the gun you hold would also change looks when modules are swapped out.
Any and all constructive feedback is welcomed.
So I have been cruising around the universe and walking throughout the different stations populating my game. The user generated content is super intricate and very artistic and I love walking around and looking at all of the interiors. I decided, just for fun, to picture them as maps in a First-Person Shooter. And it is entertaining to think about frigates ripping open a hangar door and four shuttles dodging turret fire to land in the exposed space and drop off a squad of astronauts armed with weapons and equipped to take over or destroy the station. As it stands with Pirate Stations, basically all you can do is blow them up and harvest their blocks- which is simple, to the point, and if done properly can yield a lot of blocks for you to make off with. However, if astronaut v/ astronaut combat is improved, the whole mechanic can be a lot more fun, and a lot more rewarding. In this thread, I am going to run through a proposal for future updates to the small-arms we have available in StarMade, discuss how combat would work with the new system, and touch on the benefits of enduring this combat.
-The Guns-
As it stands currently, we have a hand-held antimatter weapon we shall rename to a Blaster in this thread. The Blaster's base design will be a slow-firing AMC cannon you can hold in your hand and does little damage. It will be the pistol you start off with when you spawn in. Now here comes the major changes to the weapon system: Instead of adding in other weapons (rifles, launchers, shotguns, etc.), the Blaster can be edited with it's own UI similar to your ship's weapon interface. Just like you can add secondary and tertiary computer modules to adjust the specifics of your weapon platform, attachments for the Blaster will change the function of the weapon (and it's name} to reflect the attachment's effects. There will be three attachment items that can be slaved to the base Blaster to create a plethora of weapons: Magazines, Barrels, and Receivers. Depending on the type of Magazine, Barrel, and Receiver module you slave to the Blaster, you will get a different type of weapon. The easiest way to explain this will be with examples. Please note these names are kept basic to illustrate the concept. If these were incorporated, the components and weapons would need to have different names.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Base Weapons (Receivers): The Blaster can be turned into any other weapon by changing Receiver modules.
Blaster: The base weapon in the game will have an Anti-Matter Cannon Receiver with blank Magazine and Barrel slots, creating the current weapon in the game. *25 shots
Shotgun: A shotgun-like weapon would be a Blaster with a Damage Pulse Receiver with blank Magazine and Barrel slots. This would function like a directed Damage Pulse Module with more damage than a standard Blaster. *8 shots
Launcher: A weapon that deals explosive damage by rocking a Missile Receiver with empty Mag and Barrel slots. A single missile would fire from the weapon and deal damage to the surrounding area, prompting a longer reload time in-between. *1 shot
Rifle: A long-ranged weapon capable of firing a solid beam in a straight line due to the Damage Beam Receiver equipped. Empty Mag and Barrel slots render this a slow-firing weapon. *10 shots
*Each receiver will have it's own recharge rate which will function as a reload feature. There will be no physical ammunition involved, just like with ship weapons' systems. Once a weapon has "spent its last round", it will over-heat and have to recharge before being fired again.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barrels (Secondary Slots): Add these to a Blaster or other weapon base and improve specific stats.
Anti-Matter Cannon Barrel: Improves firing rate.
Damage Pulse Barrel: Increases damage.
Missile Barrel: Increases the number of shots a receiver can use before over-heating.
Damage Beam Barrel: Improves range.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Magazines (Tertiary Slots): Add these to a Blaster or other weapon base to add specific effects.
EMP Effect Magazine: Converts weapon damage to reduce power in the hit ship or turret.
Explosive Effect Magazine: For beams and cannons, adds an explosive effect, spreading the weapon damage over three blocks adjacent to the hit block. For missiles and pulse, the radius of the blast is increased.
Ion Effect Magazine: Increased damage to shields but reduced damage to blocks and astronauts.
OverDrive Effect Magazine: Increases overall weapon damage but recharge time doubles.
Piercing Effect Magazine: Does damage to blocks/astronauts behind the point of impact, but decreases shield damage and direct damage to the targeted block/astronaut. This Magazine cannot be added to Launcher platforms.
Push Effect Magazine: Reduces damage in exchange for a pushing effect on a targeted astronaut.
Pull Magazine Effect: Reduces damage in exchange for a pulling effect on a targeted astronaut.
Stop Magazine Effect: Reduces damage in exchange for a stopping effect on a targeted astronaut.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Specialized Weapon Examples: Depending on which Receiver has what Barrel and Magazine slaved to it, the player would get different weapons and can keep alternate modules in the inventory to change a weapon set-up via a UI. Some examples of possible weapons are listed below:
1. Damage Pulse Receiver+AMC Barrel+Push Effect Magazine= Rapid fire shotgun with a knockback effect.
2. Anti-Matter Receiver+AMC Barrel= Rapid fire blaster, comparable to a submachine gun.
3. Damage Beam Receiver+ Damage Pulse Barrel+OverDrive Effect Magazine= Heavy-hitting, long range rifle.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-The Fight-
Now that our astronauts are armed, they need something to do with these weapons. Obviously, you will want to duke it out against other players/ NPCs on stations, planets, and capital ships. But why? Why would you send a boarding crew over instead of just tearing through with your silos of missiles? Loot. With the current edition of StarMade, you really only fight other players/ships/stations to steal their blocks, gain territory, or just to be a dick. In addition to these fine reasons, Loot should also be incorporated.
Now, if you are attacking a faction's station or a capital ship, your chance of getting any kind of Loot would have to depend on whether or not the players have cargo-spaces with anything of value in them. If you destroy the ship, you'll only be able to salvage blocks. But if you board the ship and fight your way through, you can simply raid the cargo holds for anything and try to escape back to your ship or base. Alternatively, you and your team and can raid the holds and press on to the Ship Core and use the (R) function to Hack the Core. This would take some time to do so in the middle of a shoot-out, you would need teammates to guard you against the Player-crew and NPC-crew of the ship/station you are in. Once the Core is hacked however, the Hacker will be presented with a couple of options:
1. Self Destruct- Sends the ship into an Over-Heat with a significantly reduced counter, which can be stopped by the ship's crew if they can get into the Core again.
2. Capture- The Hacker enters the Ship Core as the Pilot and all Faction/Permission Modules on-board are changed over to the Hacker's Faction Signature (or Neutral if not a member of a Faction). Any turrets linked to the Ship/Station are converted as well. All NPC crew assigned to the ship will remain hostile and must be killed.
3. Pillage- 25% of the Ship/Station's credit value is granted to the Hacker and 10% is granted to any other players in the Quarter the Core is located in. (Better be sure to keep the enemies out.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the case of Pirates and Trade Guild ships and stations, there should be Loot generated in Cargo Spaces on-board that players can rummage through. They can be filled with weapons, resources, or brand new Loot items that can be sold at Shops, such as Classified Intel Dossiers (useless but assigned a value), jewelry, logs, maps, Weapon Attachments, etc. Once food, water, and oxygen are incorporated, you can find stockpiles of these resources as well. Pirates will probably have lots of weapons and raided materials on their Stations, whereas the Trading Guild would have frigates and other freighters flying around with various sizes of escorts. The freighters and stations could be Hacked or simply raided for whatever goods are in the Cargo Spaces.
An NPC AI for combat would also need to be introduced so the Pirate/Trading Guild/Faction NPC crew can wield weapons and target enemies as well. When you breach a Pirate Station, you can try and fight your way to the Core to Hack it, but there will be NPCs inside with various weapons ready to take you out, so a Boarding Crew of NPCs would be needed to increase your chance of success.
Trading Guild Stations and Freighters would be filled with crew NPCs as well, though not all of them may be armed. When Pirate hordes try and raid Guild Freighters or Stations, their AI should consider sending over Boarding Parties as well instead of simply engaging with their Isanths.
On the derelict stations, there should occasionally be a Guild or Pirate scouting team docked to it or in orbit around the station capable of sending crew down into the interior rooms for you to clear out. These stations would have some loot as well, though nowhere near the quantity or quality of what you find in Pirate or Guild stations. Another possibility would be to include an alien fauna NPC that can spawn in the derelict stations (occasionally). The Flood is what comes to my mind, but something as basic as NPCs who got stranded on the station would suffice. If they are neutral when you encounter them, you can try and take them on as Crew. But if they are hostile, then you will have to clear them out to safely explore the station.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These are my suggestions for adding an astronaut combat system that would allow the largest amount of weapons with the least amount of new items, while also prompting players to get out of their ships more often and to make ship-to-ship combat a lot more immersive. The benefits of Looting and Pillaging a Core would be great encouragements for players to risk their hides in small-arms combat.
Concerning the weapons themselves, you would need a sprite for a Receiver, Barrel, and Magazine. By changing the colors of the sprites, you can create varied items for the different types of each module there would be (AMC would be blue, Missiles would be orange, Pulse would be red, etc.) Later on if you wanted unique sprites for each attachment, you can create very stylized weapons as the AMC barrel would look different (not just in color) than the Missile barrel, leading to the weapons looking more varied than they are. The different sprites would all have to work together though so the weapons modules blend well and create a good-looking weapon as a whole. When modules are equipped to a Blaster, the sprite in your inventory would change to reflect the added modules. If a physical item is added to your POV when wielding a weapon, then the gun you hold would also change looks when modules are swapped out.
Any and all constructive feedback is welcomed.
